Visa Tests Privacy-Enabled Stablecoin Settlement on Canton Network With Brale’s SBC

Visa is testing whether privacy-enabled blockchain networks can support institutional stablecoin settlement without exposing sensitive transaction data, using a proof of concept with stablecoin infrastructure company Brale and the Canton Network. According to Cointelegraph, the project was announced Thursday and uses SBC, a US dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Brale, to simulate institutional payment flows on Canton as Visa evaluates whether SBC could become another stablecoin option in its settlement program. The initiative builds on Visa’s earlier stablecoin settlement experiments on public blockchains, which began in 2021 with USDC settlement on Ethereum, but shifts focus to banks and market infrastructure providers seeking onchain efficiency without revealing counterparties, positions, or flows on a public ledger. Canton, developed by Digital Asset, connects permissioned blockchain applications operated by institutions including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation. Unlike public chains, Canton is designed so that only transaction participants and authorized regulators can view specific deal data, while still enabling atomic settlement across tokenized assets, cash-like instruments, and other financial contracts. Visa and Brale said the proof of concept will assess how Canton’s privacy architecture could support faster and more programmable settlement while allowing financial institutions and payment companies to maintain strict control over the visibility of sensitive transaction and settlement information. The test comes as policymakers and analysts anticipate a broader shift in how payment stablecoins are used. S&P Global Ratings said in a Thursday report that global stablecoin issuance has already surpassed $300 billion across currencies, with most demand still tied to crypto trading. The report added that US payment stablecoins that comply with the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation in US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act are poised to expand into merchant remittances and certain types of commercial payments once rules are finalized, with cross-border payments cited as a promising near-term use case. However, it noted that such flows currently represent only a minimal, if growing, share of global international payment volumes. S&P Global also said stablecoins could threaten a portion of banks’ payments income and shift funding from insured retail deposits toward more concentrated wholesale balances, while banks that issue stablecoins or tokenized deposits themselves may capture new fee and funding opportunities. Cointelegraph reported it contacted Visa, Brale, and Digital Asset but had not received a response by publication.